30 DAYS!!

Hiii, Zaman hereee!

If you asked me what I expected from KKN before it started, honestly, my expectations were pretty high. Not because I already knew what KKN was going to be like, but because I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

I only had one main wish: I wanted to be placed somewhere far from Jogja. Like, really far if possible. I wanted to go somewhere I had never been before, meet people I had never known before, and experience things I probably would never have experienced otherwise. And even though UPN's definition of “far” was basically Central Java, at least that part still happened. I ended up in Magelang.

I also had expectations about my group. I thought I was gonna get a bunch of super extroverted people. The type who aren't awkward, can talk about literally anything, randomly ask you to go somewhere, laugh at stupid things together, and basically make you think, “Okay, this is gonna be fun.”

Turns out...

NO.

My first meet with Group 214 was probably one of the most uneventful first meetings I could've imagined.

That day, I was already super busy with my PTLF and MCDM assignments. Those three-credit-course assignments were killing me. I had been working since the afternoon, and then suddenly remembered that I also had my first KKN meeting that day. So you can probably imagine what my face looked like when I showed up. My brain was still stuck on assignments, my deadlines were still haunting me, and suddenly I had to meet nine people I had never really talked to before.

Koat became the witness to the very first time group 214 met. And somehow, instead of getting that “wow, this group is gonna be fun” energy, I just saw a bunch of people who were... quiet. Like, REALLY quiet.

I literally thought, “Am I seriously gonna live with these people for a whole month?”

Because my expectation was a loud, crazy, chaotic group. What I got instead was me sitting there thinking, okay... so what are we even supposed to talk about? The thing I remember the most from that first meeting was that I was FORCED to become the secretary. I originally wanted to be the person handling the recaps, but somehow I ended up in the secretary division. Luckily Yana became my secretary partner, because if it wasn't for her, I probably would've died standing that day.

There were ten of us, four guys and six girls. I already knew Mahes because we had been in the same organization before, and I could also easily talk to Oka because Oka's friend was my friend from my study program. But the others? Yeah, basically just introductions. And the thing that confused me the most was, why was nobody trying to start a conversation? Like, how can ten people be put together and ALL of them just stay quiet?  I went home from that first meeting with literally no impression at all except, “Oh, so these are my KKN people.”

The meeting ended with a mirror selfie at Koat. And after that began a pretty long era called meetings, meetings, and more meetings.

Takom, aka Taman Komunikasi, became one of the places we went to quite often. The second, third, and several meetings after that were mostly about job desks, work programs, dividing tasks, and other preparations. Even though we weren't always a full team, I actually appreciated one thing about this group: whenever we met, we usually had some kind of output. So it wasn't just sitting around, talking about random stuff, and going home with nothing done.

But if you asked me whether I was excited to come to the next meeting?

Not really.

Because besides the fact that I still had tons of college assignments, my impression of the group was still the same: everyone was quiet, and a meeting was just... a meeting.

Until one day, I don't even remember which meeting it was, there was this one moment that made me think, “Oh... wait, they can actually be fun.” And that's when I started realizing that maybe the real problem was... THEY WERE ALL SCARED OF BECOMING THE KKN LEADER.

KKN was actually one of the activities I had been looking forward to the most during college. I liked the whole idea of it: staying somewhere new, meeting new people, having a completely different routine, and spending several weeks living with people I had basically never known before. So when the KKN departure day finally came, I was pretty excited. Even though on the first day I still spent more time with my friends from my study program because we happened to be placed in the same area. Until eventually we arrived at the post and actually started living as group 214.

As soon as we arrived at the post, the first thing we did was obviously clean everything, unpack our stuff, and start getting familiar with the place we'd be staying for the next few weeks. And that's when I realized one thing: this place was REALLY remote. There was no fridge, the electricity was only 450 watts, the market was far, the water gallon was far, and even going to the city took some time.

The first problem came literally on the first day. I immediately got assigned to the cooking duty. Since we didn't have any ingredients, me and a few friends who were also on cooking duty had to go find vegetables and a water gallon. Sounds simple, right? But apparently, just FINDING vegetables and a gallon could take around 20 minutes, and that was only the time we spent looking for the place.

And as the days went by, more and more sides of everyone started to come out.

The person who seemed the quietest at first actually had some of the most random jokes. The one who looked stiff and serious turned out to be completely absurd once they got comfortable. And the people who looked so normal during the first meet actually had their own freak sides.

Turns out my group wasn't boring. They were just hidden gems.

And maybe I was just too quick to judge them from the first meeting. Because the longer we stayed together, the more these little things started to feel normal, and somehow those little things became the parts of KKN that I remember the most. From waking up and just staring blankly at the terrace, asking "siapa di kamar mandi", "hbis kmu aku", "mau masak apa gais", "galon habiss", "gas habis sepp", "nanti malem agendanya apa", "ke kota yukk", "gais yang udh siap kumpul di depan ya", "mujahadahan malem ini", "MBAK KKN", "sholat...sholat..nanti aku puterin ceramah juga ni", "pinjem hangerr dong", "siapa piket cuci piringg", "mas rendyy mana", "oka suaranya lantamm", "kereta lewat", "malam ini nonton film yukk", "kecilin suaranya zah /while literally demonstrating lowering the radio volume/, "dedek satriaaa", "bang sattt", "abang yosef", "bilbil", "ke rumah bu pupuk", "nanti sowan ya gaiss", "semprek semprekk", "ngudal gass", nasi goreng Pak Atar, jogging at Rindam that wasn't really much jogging but the snacks were AMAZING, DK's motorcycle struggling every time we went uphill, ✌️ghost✌️

And honestly, those stupid little things are what ended up sticking in my head the most.

Because when I think about it now, I don't really remember the details of our first meetings anymore. But I still remember who had the loudest voice, who was always the latest to wake up, who couldn't stop laughing once they started, and so many things I learned from them, like realizing that motorcycles aren't just about getting an oil change, realizing I should check the back tire more often, realizing there are people who genuinely love drinking coffee at night and aren't affected by the cold at all, and realizing that guys apparently sleep completely flat like babies.

If you asked me now whether I would do KKN all over again?

Absolutely.

But there's one thing I would change if I could go back to the first day: I would take way more photos and videos. Not just the nice, aesthetic ones. But random photos. Videos while we're eating. While we're laughing. While we're talking about absolutely nothing. While we're tired. While we're walking around. Maybe I'd even record the voices of people who now feel so normal to me.

Because now I realize that moments like this can't be repeated.

We can meet again, we can talk again, we can even hang out again. But these 30 days, with this exact version of us, are only going to happen once.

Big thanks to tampirkulbanget /btw ini urut nim./

Oka, the one with the SUPER LOUD voice, scared of everything, and literally can't hold his laugh once he starts HAHAHAHA. Our random swimming coach and Tampir's chef. Oka, kurang-kurangin deh jadi cewek bingung..

Mahes, the stiffest human being ever. But it's okay, our Tampir leader still deserves some appreciation for actually being willing to become the leader. If nobody wanted to be the leader, kita semua juga ga bakal mau sih.

Yana, MY HOT SECRETARY PARTNER. The one controlling DK's motorcycle and my partner in random strolls while talking about literally anything on the road. I swear, everything can be talked about when I'm with this girl.

Nabil, our PDD guy, solid job. But please, can you turn off that alarm that sounds like it's announcing something to the whole village? Masa baru bangun tidur gw langsung misuh gara-gara alarm lu, Nabil..

Naura, my sleeping buddy, our most efficient treasurer, and one of the quietest people in the group. But please, kurang-kurangin lihat HP di tempat gelap. Mata lu dijaga, Nauraaa!!

Yosep, hidden mechanic fr. My DK motorcycle actually became so much better to ride because of you. The kind of guy who's always okay with being asked to find things because I was the recap person. Semoga nanti cinta lu nggak semengenaskan itu ya, Bang.

Sabil, THIS GUY IS A HIDDEN GEM. Who would've thought we'd actually think so similarly?! One of the most mature and josjis people among all of us. Semoga bus Trans Wonosobonya kebeli ya, Billl

Satria, our youngest little brother. Your footsteps, your motor skills, and even origami somehow all started from this KKN. Terus kembangkan latihan motorikmu ya, Dek. #mamabangga

Angin, anak skentot skena total, never seen without his accessories. Keep it up. I genuinely like your style.

214 isn't over!